BRIDGEPORT -- A judge Wednesday refused to cut the probation time for former Stratford political leader Richard Miron, convicted in 2010 of stealing thousands of dollars from elderly widows and dozens of other people who had paid him for headstones for loved ones.

"The sentence was the result of a hard-fought plea bargain and I am denying the motion at this time," state Superior Court Judge Robert Devlin said in his ruling. Devlin said Miron could ask for a sentence reduction later, though.

"So many families went through so much heartbreak because of this man, and that never heals," said Verna Kearney, who lost more than $3,500 to Miron for her late husband's headstone. "I want him to serve every day of his sentence."

Miron, the former owner of Lake-

view Monument Co., is a former Stratford Democratic registrar of voters and the father of former Stratford Mayor James Miron. In 2010, he pleaded guilty to stealing $78,098.28 from 72 people who had contracted with him to purchase headstones, and was sentenced to a suspended 10-year term, followed by five years probation.

Miron was not in court Wednesday, but in a letter to the judge, he stated he wanted his probation ended. "I have made full restitution to all victims ... I am currently 77 years old, in ill health and will not offend in the future," the letter states.

"The injury he caused went well beyond the money he owed the victims," he said.

Miron's thefts came to light in May 2008, when Kearney, a Bridgeport police officer, complained to police that she had paid nearly $3,000 to Miron for a headstone for her deceased husband, Nelson Kearney, a veteran police officer, but had not gotten the stone or a refund.

Police said since that first arrest, both they and Kearney had been contacted by numerous others claiming to have been victimized by Miron.

Among the other allegations are that Miron defrauded a Bridgeport synagogue out of nearly $3,000.

Police said officials of Congregation B'Nai Israel, on Park Avenue, paid Miron $2,800 in 2005 to replace four headstones in its Kings Highway cemetery in Fairfield damaged by a car. However, Miron never did the work and didn't respond to calls for a refund.